Results
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Houston men’s track and field team won the national 4x400-meter relay title on the way to earning a runner-up finish at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships Saturday at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama. It marked the highest finish for a conference team at the national meet and the highest finish in Houston’s history. The Cougar men took third place just nine months ago at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
In total, The American saw 11 athletes earn All-America honors Saturday after clinching top-16 finishes in the second day of the national indoor meet. In addition to Houston, Cincinnati, UConn, Memphis and Wichita State also had athletes competing.
The Houston men racked up 44 points, as their second-place finish bested the previous high for the Cougars of fourth place in 1996. Florida captured the men’s title with 55 points, while Arkansas won the women’s title with 62 points.
After sending all five of the program's qualifying entries on to the finals, the Houston men picked up 36 points in the sprints as Amere Lattin (60-meter hurdles), Kahmari Montgomery (400-meter dash), Obi Igbokwe (200- & 400-meter dash) and Mario Burke (60-meter dash) all earned All-America honors with top eight finishes, while the quartet of Lattin, Igbokwe, Jermaine Holt and Montgomery claimed Houston's first 4x400-meter relay national title in a time of 3:05.04. On Friday, Houston long jumper Trumaine Jefferson placed second in his event with a personal-record distance of 26-1.50 (7.96 meters).
Ranked No. 6 in the USTFCCCA rankings entering the meet, the Houston men claimed back-to-back top-10 finishes at the NCAA Indoor Championships for the first time since 1989-90. Houston finished seventh at last year's NCAA Indoor Championships with 26 points, its first top-10 finish since the program's best indoor finish of fourth in 1996.
Ranked the No. 1 team in the nation with a world-record time earlier in the year, the Houston men's 4x400-meter relay lived up to its ranking Saturday night as Montgomery came from behind on the final leg to give Houston its first national title in the event in program history.
Houston was the only program to qualify multiple athletes for the final of the men's 400-meter dash as Montgomery and Igbokwe picked up a combined 12 points in the team race with Montgomery clocking a personal and American Athletic Conference record, 45.03 seconds—the sixth-fastest 400 time in NCAA Championships history. He finished as the national runner-up.
Igbokwe finished fifth overall after winning the finals' first heat with a time of 46.04 seconds. Just one hour after running in the 400, Igbokwe was back on the track for the finals of the 200-meter dash where he clocked a time of 21.23 to finish eighth and earn his second All-America honor of the night.
Burke became the ninth All-American from Houston in the 60-meter dash in the last seven years, clocking a personal record of 6.55 seconds to place second in the race. The American's champion in the men's 60-meter hurdles, Lattin, clocked 7.77 seconds, to finish fourth. Lattin entered the meet ranked No. 8 nationally in the event and scored four points higher than his projected finish based off the USTFCCCA rankings.
Cincinnati’s Loretta Blaut, the conference’s three-time indoor high jump champion, earned her second-straight podium finish at the national indoor meet after finishing third place with her clearance of 1.84 meters. In total, Blaut owns six-career USTFCCCA All-America honors.
On the women’s side for Houston, Taylor Scaife and Naomi Taylor each earned All-America honors on Saturday as Scaife claimed a podium finish in the weight throw and Taylor finished fourth in the 60-meter hurdles. Scaife improved to 73-10.00 (22.50) on her fourth throw to claim bronze. Taylor lowered her own personal best with a time of 8.01 seconds. Both athletes won the title in their respective events at The American’s Championships to help the Cougars clinch their first conference women’s indoor title. The Houston women, which entered the national meet ranked No. 31 in the nation finished 15th with 12 points.
Ben Johnson of Wichita State took home second team All-American honors, finishing 12th with 5,545 points in the men's heptathlon. Johnson is The American’s record holder in the heptathlon after winning the league’s title this season. Memphis’ Jordan Wesner, the league’s two-time men’s high jump champion, finished sixth place with a clearance of 7-3.75 (2.23 meters). UConn’s Susan Aneno, a two-time conference 800-meter indoor champion, clocked 2:05.86 in the 800m, finishing sixth place overall to earn All-America status.
Tulane senior pole vaulter Rebekah Markel saw her indoor season come to an end as she failed to clear a height. Markel, who set The American’s all-time record in the event in the regular season with a clearance of 4.33 meters (14-2.5), was unable to get over the bar Saturday with the opening height set at 4.16 meters.
A re-air of the NCAA Indoor Championships will take place starting at 10 p.m. ET Sunday on ESPN2 and again Monday starting at 10 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
